


Bower Born, Mortal Made

by Emerald_Gay



Series: Akebia, the fey paladin of Erastil [1]
Category: Pathfinder (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Backstory, Fantasy LGBT, Fey and pronouns, Gen, Rise of the Runelords spoilers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-11
Updated: 2020-12-11
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:08:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 988
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28014447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emerald_Gay/pseuds/Emerald_Gay
Summary: A Gathlain named Akebia wakes up on the First World
Relationships: OC/OC
Series: Akebia, the fey paladin of Erastil [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2051925





	Bower Born, Mortal Made

In an instant, their eyes opened, and they knew themself. 

_ Akebia _ . That was their name. 

_ But where am I? _

They blinked, unsure of their immediate surroundings. They somehow knew they were on the First World, a land beyond time and reason that had been abandoned by the gods in favor of the Material. And they knew they were a Gathlain, a type of fey born from a seedling of a mighty tree far away.

Akebia sat up in the remains of their seedpod. The vines coursing throughout their body were beginning to supply blood and magic to the forest-green wings sprouting from their shoulders. They flapped them experimentally. The wings were starting to stiffen but were not yet dry, and so they could not fly. 

Nor did they wish to. Their ears were growing accustomed to the sounds around them; there were birds in the distance, but what piqued their interest was the sound of voices. Crawling on limbs that grew steadier by the minute, they made their way towards the voices and found themself overlooking a small camp from a thorny hiding spot atop a hill.

In it were four beings - Akebia recognized them as mortals. They seemed quite upset.

“By the gods, this place is a mess,” the deep-voiced one remarked, picking slime out of their boots with a knife as they sat at the fire. They had a thin face, with long, sharp nails on their hands. Their leather clothing was criss-crossed by bandoliers containing potions.

“At least here we are free from the constraints of time,” the red one said, admiring their horns in a hand mirror as they lounged on a twisted tree. “I don’t have to worry about getting old like Claire.” At this, a third mortal threw a rock at them. “Ouch!”

“I’m not that old, Zan!” the rock-thrower barked. This mortal had blond hair, and was clad in metal armor that jingled as they moved. “Not all of us have elf blood to keep us young forever. Allie, what’s the matter?” The blond looked towards the final member, a furred creature of some kind who had been sniffing the air.

“A fey is nearby,” the one addressed as Allie said. At this, the rest drew weapons of some variety. “Calm down,” Allie laughed, a high chirping sound, before looking directly at Akebia’s hiding place. “It doesn’t seem like it wants to fight.”

“I don’t,” Akebia said quietly from their spot. “You all just seemed interesting.” Their voice was higher than they had imagined it would be. 

The blond paused for a moment and put their bow down. “Do you want to come out, child? We won’t hurt you.” The blond said this with a much softer tone than they had used before, and assumed an open posture, inviting their companions to do the same.

“Is it okay if I talk from here, first?” Akebia was just born, and they didn’t trust the group yet.

“Certainly,” the blond said, smiling warmly. “What do you want to talk about?”

“What kind of fey are you? Can you fly? What’s your name and pronouns? Do you know how to get to the Material Plane from-,” Allie asked rapid-fire, before being cut off by the deep voiced one.

“Pardon her, she’s a bit…curious” the deep-voiced one said, chuckling to themself slightly.

“Oh, that’s fine, they can ask questions,” Akebia giggled from their hiding spot, before they noticed that the faces of everyone in the group had grown more stern. “Did I say something wrong?” they asked as their wings curled closer to their body. They were almost dry - Akebia could feel it - so they just needed to stall for time in case they needed to escape.

“You just called Allie ‘they’ when I called her ‘her,’” the deep-voiced one said deliberately, with caution in their voice. “We don’t take misgendering lightly around here.”

“What’s a missed gender? Did you lose it?” Akebia asked curiously despite the rising tension. At this, the group relaxed slightly.

“Of course we didn’t consider  _ fey logic _ ,” Zan said sarcastically, slapping their forehead with their hand. “Stand down, everybody, they’re probably just confused by us mortals.” Zan sat back down at the fire, but kept their eyes on Akebia's hiding spot.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you. You’re just the first people I’ve met.”

“The first?” the blond said in wonder, sitting down as well.

“Well, I was born - or was it created? - several minutes ago. I just went towards the first sounds I heard that were interesting.” 

At this, Allie let out a deep laugh, causing them - no,  _ her  _ \- to double over. “Guys, thanks for the support, but I don’t think we should be picking on a baby,” she said through gasps of laughter.

“I’m not a baby!” Akebia said, punching the bush in frustration. This caused their branch to jostle and snap, landing the young fey directly in front of the party. 

“Oh, hello,” Akebia ventured, pushing their still-fragile wings behind themself and scooting backwards into the side of the hill.

“Well, aren’t you adorable,” the blond cooed, looking Akebia up and down.

“And naked,” the deep-voiced one added, looking away with a blush. “The gender comments are making more sense now, at least.” They looked through their pack and pulled out a small rag. “Here. This should cover you up.”

“Is being unclothed a problem?” Akebia asked, tilting their head, prompting a whispered “ _ oh my gods _ ” from Allie.

“It’s just distracting,” the blond replied, bringing the rag over to Akebia. From closer up, Akebia could see the kindness in their face, and allowed them to fasten the rag around Akebia in an approximation of a dress. 

The blond stepped back briefly to consider the makeshift garment, before nodding in approval. “Now. We asked before, but what’s your name, little one?”

“I’m Akebia,” they said with a smile, not realizing they had met their first family.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, ya'll  
> It's the backstory of my character in my friend's Rise of the Runelords game!  
> I had already written this, so I figured after some editing I might as well post this here!  
> I have other Pathfinder snippets if peeps are interested- I'll be posting another one for this character soon.


End file.
